Game Review

Carlton won their third match of the season, and atoned somewhat for their awful performance the previous week by accounting for St Kilda in this Monday night encounter at Docklands Stadium. While the AFL’s voracious quest for television ratings continued, a poor crowd of less than 27,000 turned up to see two of the League’s strugglers fight out a match that may have lacked the finer aspects of the game, but produced a hard and generally even contest.

The previous week, St Kilda had been demolished by 145 points by Hawthorn, while the Blues had meekly surrendered to arch-rivals Collingwood by six goals at the MCG. In the aftermath, both clubs were heavily criticised, and this clash was always going to be a physical one. Carlton made two changes on selection night, losing Tom Bell to a finger injury, and omitting Kane Lucas. Chris Yarran and David Ellard came in as their replacements, before Heath Scotland was ruled out prior to the match and Dennis Armfield was called up in his place. Jeff Garlett was named as the Blues’ substitute.

After St Kilda won the toss, Carlton began best and kicked the first two goals of the match through Kade Simpson and Chris Yarran. With Rob Warnock on top around the stoppages, Blues captain Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs, Brock McLean and Simpson seized the initiative early and repeatedly pumped the ball forward. However, Carlton’s last six scoring shots of the opening quarter were all behinds, and when Saints’ skipper Nick Riewoldt goaled at the 15-minute mark, it kept his team in the contest.

The second term produced almost siren to siren highlights for the Carlton faithful. Riewoldt opened proceedings with his second major to cut the deficit for the Saints to just five points, before the Blues slammed through eight straight goals – three to emerging star Troy Menzel, and two to Chris Yarran – to take a commanding 39-point lead into the long break. Menzel’s first (a left-foot, check-side snap from deep in the left forward pocket) was a pearler, as was Yarran’s 4-bounce burst through the centre for the Blues’ fifth at the 23-minute mark.

St Kilda came out with all guns blazing in the third quarter, booting two unanswered majors just as Riewoldt and Murphy collided in a scramble for the ball, and the Saints’ skipper was temporarily taken from the field. In Riewoldt’s absence, Carlton full-back Michael Jamison pushed forward, and to the joy of every Bluebagger on hand, out-marked an opponent just 20 metres from goal. When ‘Jamo’ kicked truly for just the second major of his 118-game career, Carlton once again held a 30-point buffer. Still the Saints kept coming, and the numerous scuffles that broke out showed that both teams were still intent at the contest. In fact, St Kilda had the better of play during the last ten minutes of the term, and at three-quarter time the deficit was 27 points.

The Saints gave themselves a sniff of victory with the first goal of the last quarter, whilst Ellard was substituted by Garlett for Carlton. The next fifteen minutes was an arm-wrestle as fatigue set in, and some excellent lead-up play by the Blues was squandered until Jeff Garlett lit up the stadium with a freakish goal reminiscent of Menzel’s magic in the first quarter. Running on to a handpass as he skirted the boundary at full pace in the right forward pocket, Jeff somehow bent the Sherrin through the big sticks with the outside of his right foot to put the Blues 44 points up, and seal the victory as the clock ticked into time-on. St Kilda kicked the last two goals of the match to make their loss more respectable, then two spent and bruised teams left the field to tend their numerous bruises.

Although in the end the winning margin was emphatic, this was a closer contest than the scores might indicate. Match statistics showed that both the tackle count (67) and contested possessions (131) finished equal, and that the Saints won the clearances 41 to 38. Carlton came out on top because of an edge in class, with Bryce Gibbs (38 disposals (17 contested) 8 clearances) Kade Simpson (36 disposals, 10 marks, 6 clearances) and Brock McLean (29 disposals, 7 marks, 7 clearances) outstanding, along with Robbie Warnock (40 hit-outs, 11 contested possessions, 3 clearances) and Chris Yarran (22 disposals, 5 marks, 6 inside 50s, 4 goals).

Milestones

First Carlton Goal:Sam DochertyFailing to make it: This would have been Heath Scotland's last game, except that he had to withdraw with an ankle injury. Shortly afterwards he was added to Carlton's long term injury list, and retired by the end of the season.Interesting Fact:Michael Jamison kicked just his second League goal in this game - number 118 of his career. His first major also came at the Dome, but at the opposite end - in the third quarter of his 69th game in Round 22, 2011League Wins: This was Carlton's 1400th win in the VFL/AFL. From 2,389 matches, we have 33 draws and a winning ratio of 59.3%